Anna Lucia Richter and Julius Drake (★★★✩✩): from soprano to mezzo
Anna Lucia Richter and Julius Drake
★★★✩✩
Place and date : Schubertiada. Canonical of Vilabertan (19/VIII/25)
Expectations were lost due to the final cancellation of the planned soprano, the Catalan Sara Blanch, and an excellent last-minute replacement, that of the former German soprano Anna Lucia Richter, now established as an attractive mezzo.
With an audience visibly disappointed at missing what would have been Sara Blanch's Schubertiade debut, the Festival's responsiveness in finding the impeccable Anna Lucia Richter as a replacement must be praised, with a Liederabend of unquestionable professionalism and solvency.
The fact that no tickets have ever had to be refunded due to a singer's cancellation speaks volumes for the Schubertiade. Its resourcefulness in finding top-notch replacements is a testament to its status as a global lied festival.
Richter (Cologne, 1990) demonstrated her current vocal maturity with a mezzo register from which she extracts attractive, never forced, low notes, and an easy and hybrid tessitura, with a medium and high register of great fluidity and rotundity, her past as a soprano defines her.
This does not mean that the lead voice has certain flute-like sounds in the transition area that sometimes sound stifled and detract from the beauty of an otherwise easy and generously projected performance.
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This was the case with his attractive selection of lieder by Mendelssohn, a composer less known for his song repertoire that is worth recovering.
The colors, theatricality of the word and a certain sense of humor are traits that Richter knows how to exploit, as in his recreation of Schubert's Der Einsame .
At this point, speaking of Julius Drake's mastery of the piano is unusually obvious. There was Mendelssohn's Reiselied , pure nerve, or the dramatic intensity, precise and necessary, that gave the final section dedicated to Brahms a sonorous keyboard glory.
With all the grace of a Richter with a flexible and aromatic voice, it must be said that her use and abuse of the music stand throughout the recital detracted from the meticulous work.
With all the grace of a Richter with a flexible and aromatic voice, it must be said that her use and abuse of the music stand throughout the recital detracted from the meticulous work. It's understandable that it would be used in a substitution, but what about in such paradigmatic Schubert pieces as "Auf dem Wasser zu singen" (On the Water to Singe) or "Gretchen am Spinnrade" ?
The second part of the recital, dedicated to Mahler, the composer who is the protagonist of the mezzo's latest CD, and Brahms, confirmed the expressive generosity of the German, who reaffirms herself in her lowest register as an excellent liederist and a luxury as a substitute, from soprano to mezzo.
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